Editorial | The Iraq invasion,10 years after ...

Back in the thick of the 2000s, this bumper-sticker could be spotted every now and again: "If you're not completely appalled, then you haven't been paying attention."

The warning came too late for the masses of Americans who initially supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and came to believe them to be a mistake.

Traumatized by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, drummed into patriotic fervor with flag-draped photo ops and tough us-or-them talk, confused by conflated messages and misleading or trumped-up "evidence," most of us left untouched - at least initially - by the sacrifices needed to commit all those boots on the ground for all these years, followed our leaders as they committed our nation and our soldiers to what became among the longest wars in American history.

The al-Qaida leader and forces that brought about the grisly deaths of 3,000 souls in September 2001 had found harbor in Afghanistan, so the retaliatory nature of American involvement in that theater of "the war on terror" was, and has been, regarded as its justification. Americans are still in Afghanistan, but the forces are drawing down.

Iraq is a different matter. It was a "pre-emptive war," or a "war of choice," to depose a ruthless dictator the U.S. alleged was loaded with weapons of mass destruction. The dictator was captured and executed; the WMDs never materialized.

Ten years ago today, President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. Within two months, in a famous speech delivered aboard an aircraft carrier with a banner reading "Mission Accomplished," he declared major combat operations in that country had ended. If only they had.

In truth, the Iraq war was just beginning, and it would drag on until December 2011, when U.S. military personnel left the country.

The hits on human and financial capital have been devastating.

Almost 4,500 American troops died in Iraq. Almost 2,500 have died in Afghanistan. Thousands more Americans were wounded, some sustaining the most grievous injuries, in both countries. Iraq Body Count, an advocacy group, reports that there have been between 111,000 and 122,000 documented civilian deaths from violence in Iraq.

A report in The Atlantic says the cost to treat veterans "could top $6 trillion - an amount just shy of twice the entire 2012 federal budget." This number surfaces at the same time the Department of Veterans Affairs is being accused of manipulating or hiding data to keep the agency from paying benefits to veterans suffering a variety of problems related to their service in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to USA Today.

Americans took the services of the volunteer forces the way we took the advice to go shopping after 9/11 to keep the economy afloat, and the way we took the tax cuts proffered to us during wartime, basically charging war costs for future payment: Without many questions.

Now that the check for those expenditures is due - The Atlantic again: "The Special Investigator General for Iraq recently reported that at least $8 billion of the $60 billion spent on rebuilding alone was wasted; how much of the full bill went to unnecessary costs and fraud is unknown" - we have regrets, if not questions:

Gallup released a poll on the eve of today's 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq that shows 53 percent of Americans believe it was a mistake for the U.S. to send troops to fight in Iraq, down from the high of 63 percent in April 2008; 42 percent say it was not a mistake. Like so much else in our polarized nation, opposition and support are on party lines: 66 percent of the respondents who are or lean Republican say it wasn't a mistake; 73 percent of those who are or lean Democratic say it was.

In the Gallup poll, the older folks among us are the most skeptical of America's last three wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Frighteningly, especially considering they're the ones who pay with their blood when we go to war (21 is the age with the greatest number of casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq), the youngest are the most supportive: It's almost a 50-50 split among them in the case of Iraq. More support the Afghanistan war than regard it as a mistake and Vietnam comes out with about the same numbers, 51 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds saying Vietnam wasn't a mistake, 43 percent saying it was. What are we not teaching? What are they not learning?

This 10th anniversary is a time for several things:

To thank, again, the men, women and families who serve their country by being in the military, and to rededicate ourselves to seeing that they are taken care of and that their sacrifices are not unrecognized or uncompensated.

To examine whether the wars were worth their costs in death and suffering, in world regard in terms of invasion, torture and the ongoing use of drones, in the amount of money we spent (and will spend well into the future).

To re-visit how we ended up in the wars, regardless of personal support.

To figure out how we can be more honest brokers and guardians of our human and financial capital the next time our leaders come calling with flags, tough talk and confusing messages.

Clever bumper stickers are too little, too late. But that one really was prescient for what continues to unspool from the Iraq invasion, 10 years ago today:

If you're not completely appalled, then you haven't been paying attention.

Louisville, Kentucky • Southern Indiana

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Editorial | The Iraq invasion,10 years after ...

Back in the thick of the 2000s, this bumper-sticker could be spotted every now and again: 'If you're not completely appalled, then you haven't been paying attention.'